from the “get the Internet to do the groundwork” department:

I am interested in some X10 hardware, or in some hardware that accomplishes similar tasks. I would like to be able to put replacement light switches, power outlets, and such in my house and control them with my Linux server.

I’ve done a little bit of looking around for what I would need to get started on this, but the sites I have found are organized more around a “current state of the software” approach than “here’s how to get started.”

Apparently the most common X10 hardware “starter pack” uses a USB controller that is not well supported in Linux. I did find that the CM11A controller is supported well, but if there’s one that has better features and is supported, I would be interested in knowing about it.

The big question – does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? Any recommendations about which technology to choose, which controller is best, and where would be a good place to get it all? I would ideally like to have RF remote control as well as computer control.